Anyone else feeling stumped with the terraforming?

[KnoxUK]

Ever since I unlocked it, I've been stumped on whether I should commit on designing it based around a theme, or wait till I collect enough items to see or justify going for a island theme. It's irritating because If I start decorating my town now short term and it's just improvise, It'll be a pain to deconstruct it all when I'm set on designing it properly.

Anyone else in the same boat? :I

 

[mocha.]

Yep! It’s normal. I’m just messing around with stuff at the minute and hoping for the best. I like to keep photos of what others have done with their islands for inspiration.

 

[Saikarie]

Yeah I'm similar too. I have all these ideas terraforming wise but I need to pretty much shape the entire island and then that's only the beginning since flowers, trees, and decor.

It gets overwhelming pretty fast @.@

 

[Dewasa]

My recommendation is to do it now, at least the layout of it as it'll make it way easier for you versus doing it later. The moment I unlocked it, I picked up all of the items I have, moved all of the trees and plants. Basically starting from a blank canvas. No regrets. My villagers are probably pretty pissed, haha.

 

[-Blue-]

Since it's clear they're going to slowly dripfeed new content into the game I'm just taking it slow. I could go gung-ho and make something for every spot, but I'm waiting.

I still work so there's that also. I'd rather do the hardcore terraforming later on when this whole situation blows over.

 

[Mairen]

Well isn't terraforming a bit differently related from island themes? Themes are more based on decor from what I understand, Terraforming is just based on where your cliffs and rivers are. But either way I didn't get stumped with terraforming. I used one of those map creators and kind of pre-planned on how I'd form my island. I don't have a lot of decor yet but it's been exciting to get the base formed so far!

 

[tajikey]

Not so much terraforming, but with design in general. I really like my island, with the exception of the very front. I'm using it now as a hybrid garden, but will eventually want to make it a grand entry. Just not sure how I'm going to accomplish that.

 

[mirukushake]

I have a rough idea of the neighborhoods I want so I've done some very basic terraforming and set up. I'm working on hybrids so I cleared most of the left side of my island for that. I'm planning on for a year without time traveling, then after I see what kind of updates/items we get over that time, I'll decide on a more permanent layout and time travel to make moving buildings go faster. I don't to do anything too permanent right now in case we get new facilities or some of the gameplay changes hinted at in the datamine.

 

[Mephala]

Take it slow! I'm just terraforming little sections at a time when I have a few items I need to start off an area. Right now I'm making a little zen garden type thing and it's nowhere near finished -- there's a bridge leading to nowhere while I decide how the layout of the second half of the garden will be, but our islands don't need to look finished at this point!

I find I come up with more interesting ideas if I just wing it and go with the flow rather than try to plan the entire island at once and overwhelm myself.

 

[Pixiebelle]

YES. I was so excited to unlock it but truthfully I haven't placed even one path yet

 

[Xara]

i am! i’ve pretty much decided by now that i won’t be doing any major terraforming but it is tempting after seeing the amazing jobs that other people have done or have planned ;u;

 

[Chris]

I'd suggest waiting it out.

It took me a couple of weeks between unlocking terraforming and actually starting to terraform. I waited until an idea properly hit me.

 

[cheezu]

I've played around with it mainly to lay down paths and create "fake" bridges on rivers.
I terraformed some cliffs to add in a bit more open space to some areas.
At the moment, I'm not going too crazy with it because the game lacks so many items that I want to have on my Island to make it look a certain way.
For example, I really want a cafe but besides the diner set furniture, there are very few food items in the game atm.
So yeah, as the updates keep rolling, I'll be working on it more.
There's no rush in my opinion.

 

[Crash]

-

 

[KnoxUK]

I've been taking it slow, not time traveling and naturally progressing. It's just a bit overwhelming with how much you can do. It doesn't help that Nintendo added bushes into the game. My brain can't comprehend new horizons. It's insane. :S

 

[PikaPika19]

Yes, absolutely! I feel intimidated by the size and scope of my island as well as the fact I'm scared to make any huge changes to the layout since it's not something that can easily be redone. I've decided on just playing around with my natural layout, adding interesting things here and there. I've also decided to break mine into "zones", such as a neighborhood/residential zone, a recreational/camp zone, and a shopping zone. After I broke it all down into zones, I've started adding in plants and fences, working with the layout and seeing what "spices it up". ^^

 

[supernerd]

That happened to me when I first unlocked it. I had a very vague idea of like one aspect of my island I wanted to change, and then when I did, I wasn't happy with the rest and had no idea of what I wanted with my island. I'm super indecisive, and this terminating tool is what we all asked for in ACNL but I did not know what I was doing at all. I felt totally lost - and to be honest, I think that's a normal part of designing your island. The pieces will fit as you keep fiddling with them. Just don't give up.

 

[DJStarstryker]

I was feeling overwhelmed for the longest time, but then I saw the suggestion recently to try to pick small areas and focus on those if trying to think of a big picture is too much. That oddly gave me inspiration. I knew I wanted a shopping area near my resident services and have begun doing some design work for that. I don't know what a lot of my island will look like quite yet, but I now have a good idea of what the entire lower right corner will look like now.

 

[Cancoon]

I'm the same way but no matter how many times I try planning I just can't PLAN!
So I jumped into it a few days ago and honestly, since I compare myself all the time, I just convinced myself that I might as well do it.
I won't be 100% satisfied either way (not terraforming vs. doing it and regretting it), so might as well risk the chance of doing something I like with it.

I actually like some of my stuff even though it may not make sense to others or look childish. It's something I made myself, yknow?

 

[Annika.]

Yeah, it also sucks that it takes so long to change your layout with all the buildings and bridges/inclines that have to move. Personally I just can't design to save my life, but I constantly see all those amazing islands on YouTube and such and immediately get inspired to change everything about my map. But I think it's more important to just go with it and make something you enjoy until you don't enjoy it anymore.